Buying relationships will be more and more built on a foundation of buyer education, and the B2B organizations who can educate and nurture prospective buyers over time, without annoying them will win. As marketing shifts towards a discipline whereby prospective buyers are understood based on their behavior, and the right content, according to where they are in their buying cycles, is delivered, marketing skills become more operational, process, and data oriented. It’s coming around to that time of year again when we all offer up predictions for what the coming year will offer. MORE >>

Sometimes it’s What’s Missing That Counts I was reading MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Email Marketing Benchmarking Guide looking for useful metrics and tips. common theme in 2009 is that marketers need to prove the value of their marketing spend in even greater detail. know that you're thinking this is not easy to do and I agree with you but today’s marketing automation systems track all of the “ digital body language ” associated to a customer or prospect and display this data in ROI reports. We’ll come back to this story – let’s focus back on email marketing. Tweet This! MORE >>

As I read the article, it struck me that B2B companies need to hit upon some of these same areas (which I've highlighted in red above) to impress their prospects. Understand their concerns – Get to know your prospects so you can engage them on a personal level. TechTarget's 2009 Media Consumption Report provides insight into the types of content that technology buyers seek through the buying cycle; you can see the chart in this blog post. And provide tools that help prospects visualize how your offering might help them. Here's how they can do just that. MORE >>

As I read the article, it struck me that B2B companies need to hit upon some of these same areas (which I've highlighted in red above) to impress their prospects. Understand their concerns – Get to know your prospects so you can engage them on a personal level. TechTarget's 2009 Media Consumption Report provides insight into the types of content that technology buyers seek through the buying cycle; you can see the chart in this blog post. And provide tools that help prospects visualize how your offering might help them. Here's how they can do just that. MORE >>

In fact, visitors searching our site for the phrase “content marketing” increased by 85% in 2009 over 2008. You may also do a regular eNewsletter to inform your customers and prospects about the great content you have created recently online. Six Steps to a Successful Small Business Content Marketing Strategy How to go from clueless to compelling to transform prospects into buyers In 2007, the mention of content marketing brought as many blank stares from small business owners as the mention of a website did 10 years before. Thanks to everyone for their support in 2009! MORE >>